MY 2016 IN PICTURES

From a bookish, writerly, selfishly personal perspective 2016 has actually been a wonderful year. Yes, there’ve been ups and downs, the doubts, the worries. But isn’t that life?

So…enough of words, for once. It’s pictures time!

January

My very first Chicken House Big Breakfast in London, where I ate croissants, caught the flu, and got excited about what became some of 2016’s biggest books- ‘Lydia’ by Natasha Farrant, ‘The Girl of Ink and Stars’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and ‘Beetle Boy’ by MG Leonard.

February

Recovering from Chicken House Flu

Strange Star Page Proofs

The end of January early February was spent sick as…well.. a chicken. Luckily, I was soon revived by the arrival of the page proofs for ‘Strange Star’, and a jolly night at the launch party for another 2016 hit ‘Rebel of the Sands’. Also this month came the exciting news that Delacorte Press (my US publisher) wanted to take ‘Strange Star’, and Faber (my UK publisher) requested THREE MORE BOOKS! *new book deal klaxon*

March

March brought with it the very first review for ‘Strange Star’ as The Bookseller’s 9-12 Pick of the Month for July- WHOOP! It was also the first of many trips away from home, hence the sad terrier face- this time to the brilliant Stockton Book Awards for which ‘The Girl Who Walked on Air’ was shortlisted. And… it was WORLD BOOK DAY!

April

April was my first event at Waterstones Birmingham as part of The History Girls panel. A fab time had by all! I presented the lovely BASH Book Awards with St Helen’s Library Service, attended the Shrewsbury Book Award with ‘In Darkling Wood’, finished the first draft of  ‘Sky Chasers’ for Chicken House (hence the lying in a heap picture)  and… ‘Frost Hollow Hall’ had a makeover.

May

May was book launch party season with two of my favourite books of 2016 being published. First up was Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s ‘The Girl of Ink and Stars’  at Daunt Books in London. Then, just a few days later Nikki Sheehan’s ‘Swan Boy’ at The Book Nook, Hove. Also this month, I received finished copies of ‘Strange Star’. Yes, the joy of seeing your precious book in print for the first time never fades!

June

June kicked off with one of my favourite events of 2016, the Hay Festival where I had a fine old time talking adventures with Abi Elphinstone and chaired Katherine Woodfine, Lynn Gardner and Francis Hardinge discussing mystery stories. It was also the very first Ilminster Book Festival, ‘Strange Star’ was included in the Guardian’s Best New Books round-up, I went to the Halifax Book Awards with shortlisted ‘In Darkling Wood’, ‘The Snow Sister’ audiobook was published and… first proof copies of the US version of ‘In Darkling Wood’  arrived.

July

July was all about ‘Strange Star’s’ release. We had a launch party at Daunt’s in London, which was so exciting I forgot to take any pictures. I did signings in Exeter, Taunton, Salisbury, and another of my favourite events of 2016, an evening at Waterstones Salisbury  with fellow July-book-birthday-author James Nichols. Suffice to say we had a hoot! The icing on the cake was ‘Strange Star’s’ The Times Book of the Week slot and a glorious FIVE STAR review in The Telegraph (one of my best EVER reviews).

August

Yes I did a few events in August, read tons and tons of books. I also finished the first draft of ‘Letters From The Lighthouse’, which features a main character called Olive. It was a hard-write, raggedy first draft so Bert and I had a chat and decided we needed a pup to reward ourselves. It just so happened that fellow Somerset author Ally Kennen had a gorgeous litter of Jack Russells needing homes. SOLD. So yes, August was mostly about puppies…

September

..As was September. Our pup- named Olive- came home on the 2nd Sept and I soon remembered how distractingly cute puppies are when you’re trying to edit a book. Faber, meanwhile, made gorgeous posters for my books. I had the honour of taking part in a Waterstones event  with Katherine Rundell, who left me completely awestruck! One of 2016’s big books ‘Cogheart’ had its launch in London, which was a great night for catching up with bookish pals. In September I also faced one of my biggest fears: for the first time in 20 years I got on an aeroplane. First, I did the BA Flying With Confidence course at Heathrow (its superb), then went on a day trip to Dublin. And you know what? It was all right!

October

If I had to pick a favourite month of 2016, October would be it. We celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary on the 1st. My brother, wife, nieces all came over from Australia for a family knees up. And on the terrier front, Olive was settling in well.

Bookish news: I got my mitts on an early copy of ‘Winter Magic’ and saw that my contribution ‘A Night At The Frost Fair’ had been chosen to open the collection. I attended the YLG conference where I met so many passionate librarians and book folks. It was Appledore Book Festival time- one of the nicest, best run festivals there is- and my first time at the Yeovil Lit Festival where I talked writing processes and publication stories with the lovely Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Then… to Italy where I did two days of school visits and completely fell in love with Rome. The flying part was okay too!

November

Was a mad month of editing ‘Letters From The Lighthouse’, as well as celebrating my wonderful mum’s 70th birthday and the publication of ‘Winter Magic’ at Waterstones Piccadilly.

December

Still editing. And editing. It started with a mini-break to Cornwall where we were blessed with frosts, clear blue skies and empty beaches. (yes, I took my laptop so I could.. you know.. edit). On my return, I whizzed up to Waterstones Birmingham to talk all things wintery with fellow ‘Winter Magic’ contributors Piers Torday, Michelle Harrison and Abi Elphinstone.

After that it was full steam ahead with those edits.

And the year ended with half an eye on 2017 when I’ve got TWO books coming out: my diary is already filling up nicely.

Christmas and New Year best wishes to you all! xxx

The Snow Sister on Tour!

A few months ago The Reading Agency asked me to go on tour. Not in the One Direction sense to stadiums full of fans (phew!), but to libraries to talk about… snow.(excuse the weirdo in the hat- I’ve no idea who she is but she insisted on being in the photo).

Now, I confess I’m rather partial to a flake or two, something I’ve probably mentioned once or twice on here. It also features heavily in Frost Hollow Hall and The Snow Sister.
So of course I jumped at the chance. The only problem was squeezing a library tour in to what was already shaping up to be a very hectic November. In the end, we had to narrow it down to four days.

And what brilliant days they were.

On Monday, I went to Coventry library, where I was welcomed with the most fantastic displays and the loveliest library team, who gave me flowers and reduced me to tears.

I spoke to school pupils and members of the public about my love of snow, frost fairs, record breaking winters and how snow flakes are formed. And i signed many MANY copies of The Snow Sister and Frost Hollow Hall.

Tuesday was Slough library. Again, lovely librarians and a brilliant bunch of years 6 and 7 who were so up for talking all things snow.

Wednesday was Rugeley library where the displays were gorgeously wintery and the audience brimming with great ideas for their own celebrity snow people. Liz the librarian also took me for one of the nicest pieces of cake I’ve ever eaten. Win win!

The final leg of my library tour was South Gloucestershire, which I made the mistake of thinking was within easy driving distance. Especially as Google Maps tantalisingly suggested my destination was only 1hr 25 mins away.

After two hours 20 mins of driving in torrential rain, I arrived at Yate library to the most beautiful, snowy displays. They’d even created a ‘snow seat’ for me to sit on! The audience of local primary children were a great bunch who loved trying on ice skates and asked some brilliant questions. Then, after a quick cuppa it was time to drive 6 miles to Emerson Green library for my final event.

Remember what I said about driving? Already this week my own car had protested at going to and from Taunton station every day, and had broken down. So I’d borrowed my dad’s car for the day. Which happens to have its headlight switch in a weird place and in my excitement I’d left them on and blah blah blah… one dead battery. 

Two hours, three helpful ladies who tried to push me, more torrential rain and a delayed but awesome breakdown man -‘ I got called out to Helen Dunmore last week. She was on her way to a  book signing.’- later, I made it to Emerson Green Library. I was 20 mins late. The library was packed with years 4,5 and 6 students from the local school. Thank goodness for their teacher who was keeping them entertained with a reading from The Snow Sister! Suffice to say they were a lovely crowd. We had a great time talking all things snow- with a few Frost Hollow Hall ghosts thrown in for good measure. Once I got inside that snow igloo all my car stress vanished. It was a magical end to the best of weeks.

Which leaves me only to say a HUGE thank you to all the libraries who worked so hard to welcome us. YOU made it happen!

My ‘Darkling Wood’ Summer

It started on a rainy day in June with a knock at the front door. ‘ This is for you,’ the postie said, handing me a box so big it could only mean one thing: books. My books. There are few more cheering sights, let me tell you. Prior to that knock at the door, I’d been flu-ridden and grumpy. Yet I ripped through that packaging like a kid at Christmas. The sun even came out too.

Publication day itself was July 2nd, a Thursday, which meant a teaching day in school for me. At lunchtime ( the rain was back) we did a book signing in the school library with lovely local indie Archway Books. One sixth-former ran all the way home just to get his mum’s copies of Frost Hollow Hall and the Girl Who Walked on Air for me to sign- and also bought her In Darkling Wood- what a sweetie!

I’d decided against a book launch for In Darkling Wood. ‘The Girl Who Walked On Air’ was only 11 months old, and I just couldn’t think how or where I’d like to celebrate this time round. Woods were the obvious choice but it was STILL RAINING. So, in time honoured tradition, we celebrated at home.And at the weekend with a small gathering in my parents’ back garden, when *surprise* it was a fine, summer’s evening.

Then came the thrill of seeing my book out in the wild. In case you’re wondering, it was just as super-exciting as last time with The Girl Who Walked on Air, and the time before that when Frost Hollow Hall hit the shelves nearly two years ago.

This time  my book also was in Waitrose and Sainsburys!

In between taking photos of my book (sorry) , I did signings and school visits- all of which were great fun. This is one of the parts of being an author I love best.

And I’m not one to overlook a cake tie- in opportunity. A book about fairies deserves fairy cakes, right?

Many of these events meant train journeys, which gave me time to catch up on snoozing and- more importantly- reading. And was I glad to! There are many amazing books out there this summer, my top three being: The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, Darkmere by Helen Maslin and A Little In Love by Susan Fletcher.

On my travels I met some amazing children’s’ booksellers- Meg, Theresa, Jo- who all have a real passion for and wealth of knowledge in what they do. And great school librarians who understand completely the power and magic of books- where would we be without them?

The biggest joy of all though is meeting people- young and the not so young- who read your books. It’s humbling, exciting and a very real privilege. Really, it’s what this writing malarkey is all about, so a very big thank you to anyone who came to an event, bought a book or just stopped by to say hello. Or tweeted- I’ve had lots of lovely twitter and Facebook messages too! Thank you- your support and encouragement means so much.

Then last weekend I went to the amazing Just So Festival in Staffordshire (do check out their website), where I did events on the Girl Who walked on Air and In Darkling Wood. Just look at this fabulous woodland stage where I performed ( well, sat in that comfy red chair and talked fairies!) It couldn’t have been more perfect!

This summer wasn’t all about in Darkling Wood, though. Behind the scenes, I was also madly finishing the first draft of my next book for Faber, which is based around the writing of ‘Frankenstein’. We think it’s going to be called ‘ Strange Star’, but more news on that in a future post.

And, just when I’d sent that off and collapsed in a heap, there was another knock at the front door. ‘Those are for me, aren’t they?’ i asked the postie. Nodding, he handed me a  box – a bit lighter this time- of books. Inside, I guessed, were the final copies of my Christmas novella, The Snow Sister, which hits the shops on October 1st.

I was thrilled to bits, of course. And I started taking pictures. All over again.